Can I Breast Feed after Reduction?

The simple answer is YES, but it varies greatly between women.

Fortunately most of the women that seek breast reduction surgery have had children and want to restore their breasts back to a more youthful shape and size, so the consideration of breast feeding is not an issue.

However, should you be a woman who plans on breast feeding and are considering a breast reduction it is reassuring to know that you can. I make this statement based on the best available scientific evidence available, a landmark paper from 2007.

The authors got 164 ladies with large breasts who had breast reduction and compared them to 151 women with similar sized breasts who did not have breast reduction surgery and compared their ability to breast feed.

The results showed around 62-65% of women in both groups could breast feed. Of this percentage around 35% of them needed to supplement their feeds with formula.

Overall 30-40% couldn’t breast feed in either group.

The conclusion of the paper was that breast reduction surgery did not effect their ability to breast feed.